Mammals of the WorldBlainville's Beaked Whale
Mesoplodon densirostris
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Ziphiidae
- Genus
- Mesoplodon
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- Angola|Australia|Bahamas|Belize|Brazil|Cape Verde|Cameroon|Canada|Cayman Islands|Chile|China|Cocos Islands|Colombia|Comoros|Costa Rica|Ecuador|Fiji|Guam|Guatemala|Guyana|Honduras|India|Indonesia|Japan|Kenya|Kiribati|Madagascar|Malaysia|Marshall Islands|Mauritania|Mauritius|Mayotte|Micronesia|Morocco|Mozambique|Myanmar|Namibia|Nauru|New Caledonia|New Zealand|Nicaragua|Nigeria|Northern Marianas|Oman|Pakistan|Palau|Panama|Papua New Guinea|Peru|Philippines|Portugal|Azores|Réunion|Saint Helena|São Tomé and Príncipe|Seychelles|Solomon Islands|Somalia|South Africa|Spain|Sri Lanka|Taiwan|Tanzania|Tokelau|Tonga|United Kingdom|United States|Uruguay|Vanuatu|Venezuela|Vietnam|Wallis and Futuna|Yemen|Ascension|Anguilla?|Antigua and Barbuda?|Argentina?|Aruba?|Bangladesh?|Barbados?|Benin?|Bermuda?|Bonaire?|Sint Eustatius?|Saba?|Brunei?|Cambodia?|Republic of the Congo?|Democratic Republic of the Congo?|Cook Islands?|Cuba?|Curaçao?|Cote d'Ivoire?|Djibouti?|Dominica?|Dominican Republic?|El Salvador?|Equatorial Guinea?|Eritrea?|France?|French Guiana?|French Polynesia?|Gabon?|Gambia?|Ghana?|Grenada?|Guadeloupe|Guinea?|Guinea-Bissau?|Haiti?|Iran?|Ireland?|Jamaica?|Liberia?|Maldives?|Mexico?|Montserrat?|Niue?|Saint Kitts and Nevis?|Saint Lucia?|Sint Maarten?|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines?|Samoa?|Senegal?|Sierra Leone?|Singapore?|Suriname?|Thailand?|East Timor?|Trinidad and Tobago?|Turks and Caicos Islands?|Tuvalu?|British Virgin Islands?|United States Virgin Islands?
- Realm
- Marine
Other names: Cow-fish|Dense-beaked Whale|Tropical Beaked Whale
About this species
- Size
- Males at least 4.4m; females at least 4.6m
- Weight
- Males at least 800kg; females at least 1 tonne
- Diet
- Squid, small fish and cephalopods, caught by suction
- Habitat
- Deep offshore water at 200–1,000m, near steep underwater structures
Blainville's beaked whale, or the dense-beaked whale, is believed to be the widest-ranging Mesoplodon beaked whale. Males reach at least 4.4 m and 800 kg and females at least 4.6 m and one tonne, and calves are about 1.9 m and 60 kg at birth. It is dark bluish grey on top and lighter below, with a head that can be brownish shading to light grey around the lip and jaw. Animals may carry white oval scars, possibly from cookie-cutter sharks, and adult males also long white scratch scars (Wikipedia, general species account).
It inhabits deep offshore water at 200–1,000 m and is associated with steep underwater structures. It feeds mainly on squid and small fish by suction rather than biting, in groups averaging about four animals, and there is no evidence of seasonal migration. It stays silent for up to 80% of the time. Most detail in the account comes from Hawaii, the Bahamas and the Society Islands, not India (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)